China’s Modern Wars, 1911–1979

Abstract

Few informed observers would deny the important role that military conflict has played in China’s 20th century. Scholars have long shown interest in this topic, producing a wide body of scholarship on various aspects of China’s major wars since 1911. A traditional focus on major campaigns and commanders has given way to new approaches that explore the social and environmental consequences of war, studies of different regions or base areas, and the experiences of combatants. This bibliography begins with the 1911 Revolution, which ended the millennia-old imperial system in China. Instead of producing a new government, the revolution ushered in a period of military separatism as sections of the country fell under the political and military control of independent commanders, typically known as “warlords.” The 1920s saw the rise of two prominent political parties, the Guomindang (GMD) or “Nationalist” Party and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), each of which developed military forces in order to acquire political power and implement its particular plan for a new China. These two forces combined to create a National Revolutionary Army (NRA), which embarked on the Northern Expedition to defeat the warlords and unify the country. The alliance proved fleeting as Nationalist and Communists clashed in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The Japanese seizure of Manchuria in 1931 and subsequent territorial encroachments in northern China directed the national focus to external threats. In 1937 China and Japan began an eight-year war that featured massive destruction and dislocation. This Sino-Japanese War (which the Chinese call the “Eight Year War of Resistance” against Japan) merged with the war in Europe to produce the Pacific War, which brought China and the United States together as wartime allies. The defeat of Japan in August 1945 provided little respite, as CCP and GMD forces resumed their struggle for political power in the Chinese Civil War from 1945–1949. The CCP triumph ushered in a new government, the People’s Republic of China, which within one year sent “volunteer” soldiers to defend North Korea against the United Nations force in the Korean War. In the twenty-five years following the Korean War armistice, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) engaged in military operations in the Taiwan Straits, border conflicts with India and the Soviet Union, and supported Vietnamese allies in the wars against the French and Americans. The 1979 war with Vietnam capped China’s modern wars since 1911.